San Francisco police arrest suspect after body parts found in suitcase

SAN FRANCISCO -- Police arrested a man Saturday in a case involving a dismembered body found inside a suitcase earlier this week in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, CBS San Francisco reported.

Mark Andrus, 59, was arrested in connection with a case in which body parts were found in the suitcase at 11th and Mission streets Wednesday afternoon, San Francisco police officer Grace Gatpandan said.

Additional remains were found in a trash can half a block away from the original scene. Police said that some of the body parts were missing, but declined to say which ones.

"It was not a full body," Gatpandan said Friday. "We can't confirm what body parts have been found."

The medical examiner determined all the body parts were from a single victim.

Officers received an anonymous tip just before 7:30 p.m. Friday reporting that a person of interest seen in photos released to the public earlier that day could be found in the 400 block of Turk Street, Gatpandan said.

Officers detained two people at that location, one of whom was confirmed as the person of interest. Both were taken to the Hall of Justice for questioning, police said.

Andrus was arrested on suspicion of murder and booked into county jail early Saturday morning, according to police. There was no word on the status of the other person questioned Friday.

The victim, a light-skinned male, has not been identified. Investigators will tap the DNA lab at the California Department of Justice's Bureau of Forensic Services for assistance in determining the identity of the decedent, according to the medical examiner.

The case remains under investigation and authorities are asking anyone with information about the death to call the San Francisco Police Department's homicide unit.